At Rae Bareli, a Picture of Contrasts in Amit Shah and Priyanka Gandhi

Amit Shah: Triple talaq, Article 370, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Muslim personal law, surgical strike, Ram temple, 400 paar…

Priyanka Gandhi: Education, future of children, unemployment, mahngai, GST on agricultural equipment, farm loan-waiver, voter awareness…

The two sets of phrases reveal two kinds of politics. Union home minister Amit Shah and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi were today campaigning in Raebareli, a prestigious constituency considered to be the pocket-borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family from where Rahul Gandhi is contesting this time. The difference in their language and content tells all about the nature of electoral contest in this election.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

While Amit Shah began his speech by saying that a victory in Rae Bareli would guarantee 400 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and asked the people how many times Sonia Gandhi had visited the constituency during the last five years, he said the Congress leader who represented the seat had spent 70% of her MPLAD funds on minorities. He then swiftly moved to the Ram temple, claiming that Rahul Gandhi didn’t attend the consecration ceremony because he was scared of his “vote-bank.” The BJP describes Muslims as Congress vote-bank.

Shah then went on to ask five questions, insisting that Rahul Gandhi should seek vote in Rae Bareli only after answering them:

1. Scrapping the triple talaq law was good or bad and does Rahul Gandhi intend to bring it back?

2. What is preferable – Muslim Personal Law or Uniform Civil Code? 3. Do you support the surgical strike carried out by the Modi government inside Pakistan or not?

4. Do you support the abolition of Article 370 or not?

5. Why didn’t you attend the pranprathistha [consecration] of Ram temple?

The unmistakable and inescapable Muslim angle in all the five questions cannot be overstated. Shah also spoke about India’s claim on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and recalled how Congress leaderMani Shankar Aiyar was trying to scare India by saying that Pakistan possessed atom bomb. He made passing references to Modi’s achievements like the moon mission and G-20 conference while promising to take Rae Bareli to dizzying heights of development if the seat went to the BJP.

Priyanka’s speech was entirely different in both intent and purpose as she appealed to the people to show awareness and voter for a better future of their children.

Also read: In Picking Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi Signals His Fight Is With Modi, Not One of His Nominees

“What’s the biggest problem you face?" she asked the audience and then went on to dwell on “mahngai” or expense, explaining how the women struggled to buy even essential items because of high prices. She referred to the cost of petrol and diesel and told the people that Congress governments were providing cooking gas cylinder for Rs 500. She said the Goods and Services Tax imposed on agriculture equipment tormented farmers who were denied even loan-waiver relief, while resenting corporate loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore being written off.

She also talked about legal guarantee for MSP, crop insurance, unemployment, apprenticeship scheme, paper leaks and pension. She said the government was selling public sector units, airports, ports and giving all the contracts to crony capitalists, instead of making policies to help the poor.

Talking about the constituency, she said whatever development that happened in Rae Bareli was done by Congress MPs, particularly her mother Sonia Gandhi. Taking a dig at the BJP candidate Dinesh Pratrap Singh, who is the local MLA, she said, “I challenge him to show one work, instead of threatening people and grabbing their land.”

She then moved to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lamenting how low he had dragged the public discourse to, talking about stealing buffalo, snatching mangalsutra and Hindu-Muslim divide. She said, “A true leader will never mislead you in the name of god or religion. A true leader will speak the truth and serve the people. A true leader will seek votes on the basis of his performance. The prime minister has nothing constructive to talk about? The BJP has taken donations from the vaccine manufacturer through electoral bonds. The vaccine has been withdrawn because of its ill-effects. The BJP took donations from the builder of the bridge that collapsed in Gujarat killing so many people. We ruled this country for 55 years but the BJP became the richest party in the world in barely 10 years. Some reports suggest they spent Rs 60,000 crore in building offices across the country."

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